HOW DO LEARNERS PERCEIVE INTERACTIONAL FEEDBACK?

Abstract

Theoretical claims about the benefits of conversational interaction have been made by Gass
(1997), Long (1996), Pica (1994), and others. The Interaction Hypothesis suggests that
negotiated interaction can facilitate SLA and that one reason for this could be that, during
interaction, learners may receive feedback on their utterances. An interesting issue, which has
challenged interactional research, concerns how learners perceive feedback and whether their
perceptions affect their subsequent L2 development. The present research addresses the first of
these issues–learners' perceptions about interactional feedback. The study,
involving 10 learners of English as a second language and 7 learners of Italian as a foreign
language, explores learners' perceptions about feedback provided to them through
task-based dyadic interaction. Learners received feedback focused on a range of
morphosyntactic, lexical, and phonological forms. After completing the tasks, learners watched
videotapes of their previous interactions and were asked to introspect about their thoughts at the
time the original interactions were in progress. The results showed that learners were relatively
accurate in their perceptions about lexical, semantic, and phonological feedback. However,
morphosyntactic feedback was generally not perceived as such. Furthermore, the nature as well
as the content of the feedback may have affected learners' perceptions.